


Some Assembly Required at the Hale House

by ash_mcj



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Allydia - Freeform, Alpha Derek Hale, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Bisexual Lydia Martin, Cussing, Derek Hale Deserves Nice Things, Derek Hale is Bad at Feelings, Emissary Alan Deaton, Everyone Is Gay, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Finstock Coven Practices Witchcraft, Fluff and Angst, Gay Panic, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Jackson Whittemore is Part of the Pack, Jackson Whittemore is a Hale, Mages, Marijuana, Multi, Nightmares, Pack Bonding, Pack Building, Pack Cuddles, Pack Dad Derek Hale, Pack Family, Pack Feels, Pack Mom Stiles Stilinski, Peter Hale is Jackson Whittemore's Parent, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rebuilt Hale House, Roommates, Scissac - Freeform, Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, Steiner Twins, Stilinski Twins, The Hale House, The Hale Pack - Freeform, Top Derek Hale/Bottom Stiles Stilinski, Vampire Stiles Stilinski, Werewolf Mates, Werewolf Stiles Stilinski, almost, jethan, petopher, sterek
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:48:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26854720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ash_mcj/pseuds/ash_mcj
Summary: Derek had no idea how this happened, but somehow, all of the annoying teenage supernatural creatures in Beacon Hills had managed to subtly move into his house without his permission--which he definitely wouldn't have given--or him noticing. Thinking back, he couldn't pinpoint exactly when it had even happened.Somehow, "Pack meeting tonight at the Hale House" turned into "Pack meeting tonight"."Go to your own house, if you're gonna play that trash music" turned into "If I have to tell you to turn that down one more time, you'll be sleeping outside tonight"."I won't be able to come over until late...maybe we should reschedule?" turned into "I'll be home late--let's figure it out in the morning".Derek had no idea how he felt about this, but he was definitely going to act much more annoyed than he truly was.[All the tagged teens live in the rebuilt Hale House with Derek and hilarity ensues...along with the PTSD, nightmares, trust issues, etc. that they've picked up over the years and have to work through as a pack. As a family.](Sterek, Scisaac, Allydia, Jethan, Thiam, Petopher, McStilinski)
Relationships: Allison Argent/Lydia Martin, Ashton Stilinski/Aiden Steiner, Bobby Finstock/Alan Deaton, Chris Argent/Peter Hale, Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Ethan/Jackson Whittemore, Isaac Lahey/Scott McCall, Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken, Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken/Harlee Deaton-Finstock, Melissa McCall/Sheriff Stilinski
Comments: 26
Kudos: 187





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Ready to see Derek accidentally build a family and fall in love? Let's do it.
> 
> (I use a couple characters from my Teen Wolf rewrite series, but they aren't connected at all. Just know that Stiles and Ashton are twins and they are vampire-werewolf hybrids, and Harlee Deaton-Finstock is Coach Finstock and Dr. Deaton's daughter and is a druid mage. Also, there is no Malia, because I prefer that Jackson is Peter's son that was given up for adoption)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter and Chris come back to Beacon Hills with exciting news and Derek realizes that he has housemates.
> 
> “Is this...weed?” Peter chuckled from the kitchen.

A black Shelby 1000 Cobra pulled up to the newly rebuilt Hale residence and parked in the empty dirt space by the stone chimney that climbed up the side of the wooden mansion. The car doors opened and Peter Hale and Chris Argent stepped out into the night, with duffel bags slung over their shoulders. 

“Looks like they finished it,” Peter noticed, looking up at the dimly moonlit three-story building that was a perfect replica of his childhood home--even down to the pale yellow exterior, white columns that lined either side of the porch, and bold red front door.

“I can’t see much, but I’m sure it looks great,” Chris told him as he opened the trunk of the car and lifted the suitcase out, careful to avoid scratching the pristine paint job on the rare car.

“Sometimes I forget you humans have such pathetic eyes.”

“At least tiny purple flowers don’t take us out whenever we get in their vicinity.”

“No, but almost everything else does,” Peter said with a challenging glint in his eyes. “I don’t have the faintest clue how you humans even survive your teenage years.”

“I don’t know how _you’ve_ survived this past month of living with me. I’m shocked I haven’t killed you yet.”

“If you stop talking so much and get your ass inside, I’ll show you why you’ve kept me around.”

Chris looked away from the werewolf to hide the excited grin that had crept onto his face. Despite the effort, Peter smirked at the unmistakable increase of his heart rate. The hunter should really have known by then that there was no point in attempting to hide things from a werewolf.

The two men made their way up the front steps to the porch and Peter reached into his jacket pocket to find his copy of the house key, but before he could pull it out, the door swung open to reveal Derek Hale. His cautious green eyes flitted between the two and he stood a bit taller before asking, “What are you doing here?”

“Nice to see you, too, my dear nephew. Yes, my trip to Europe was amazing--I love Paris in the summer. Thank you for asking. Oh, how I’ve missed you, too,” Peter said sarcastically, repositioning the strap of the heavy duffel bag on his shoulder, where it had started to dig into his skin uncomfortably.

“What are you doing here?” Derek repeated monotonously. 

“I live here,” Peter answered. “And I didn’t judge you for who _you_ brought home, so why don’t you step aside and let us go to my room?”

“Brought home?” Derek asked, his eyebrows furrowing as he tried to decipher the meaning of those words. Chris glanced uncomfortably at Peter, who continued staring at his nephew, and Derek took an uncertain step backwards as his face screwed up in disgusted realization. “You guys are... _together_?”

“Yes, I’m so glad that you finally came to that conclusion. It only took you five times as long as it would have taken a competent alpha werewolf. He smells more like me at this point than _I_ do.”

“We ran into each other in a library in France, where I was living, and realized that we have more in common than we thought,” Chris elaborated. “So, we’re trying things out.”

“I’m sure you have a lot in common--like bringing death to my family members.”

“You slashed my throat open a couple years ago--we’re all growing,” Peter accused, to which Derek rolled his eyes.

The younger man turned and retreated back into the house, allowing the other two men to follow him in. Chris locked the door behind them as Peter made his way into the living room through the opening in the left side of the entryway.

“Your room is the one through the kitchen,” Derek reminded his uncle upon noticing that he hadn’t made any move to head towards his room.

“I know.” Peter waved him off as he walked slowly around the living room, sniffing at the furniture curiously. “So...when did the omegas and Scotty’s pack move in?”

“What?” Derek asked him confusedly. “They didn’t.”

“Are you sure? I smell them on... _everything_ ,” Peter said, running his hand along the light blue wallpaper. “This isn’t the type of decorating you usually lean towards, either.”

“They’ve just been hanging out here a lot since we finished the house,” Derek justified. “They kept begging to decorate and I told them I didn’t care, so they did.”

“Hm...so, you took up the crossbow then?” Chris questioned from the entryway, eyeing the sleek black crossbow mounted on the wall beside a quiver full of various arrows hung on a nail to the right of the front door.

Derek looked at Allison’s crossbow and wondered when she had placed it there. He hadn’t noticed. Below her weapon, a silver baseball bat labeled _‘STILES’ KILLING BAT’_ was leaned against the corner of the wall. On the other side of the door, stood a black wooden four-shelf shoe rack that Jackson had insisted on buying for the house, holding thirteen pairs of shoes. The top two shelves were lined neatly with clean Vans and heels, while the bottom two were full of dirty, worn-out sneakers that appeared to be carelessly kicked off and tossed onto the rack, rather than placed there.

“This has to be my favorite photograph of you, Derek. It captures you perfectly,” Peter said, plucking a picture frame off the fireplace mantle and holding it out to the other two men, who walked further into the living room to take a closer look. The picture was taken on the couch shortly after the mansion had been completed. Scott and Stiles were seated on either side of Derek, while he flipped them both off without looking away from the show he was watching.

Derek remembered that Ethan had excitedly begun taking pictures of them all as soon as he got a camera with a special lens that would filter out the glare their eyes gave off, but he wasn’t aware that he was framing them and placing them around the living room. Pictures lined all four walls and were arranged in a staggered line across the mantle.

For the first time, Derek noticed that the U-shaped suede sectional wasn’t nearly as bare as it had been in that picture. Now, a fuzzy blue and white throw blanket was draped across the back of the couch and matching decorative pillows were propped up in the corners. He figured it must have been Lydia, Ethan, or Jackson, who were the ones who had taken control of the decorating process and seemed to be casually adding more to the house every time they came over. Or rather, came home, it appeared.

On either side of the guest room door against the far wall--which Derek realized he could clearly hear a heartbeat coming from--was a tall wooden bookcase with glass doors. The one on the left by the window was filled with books on the supernatural and a small safe with a combination lock. Derek knew there was a master bestiary inside of it that the Stilinski twins had put together by combining the Hale and Argent bestiaries, along with the information from the Dread Doctors’ notebooks that Theo had stolen and brought to the house. The other bookcase on the right side had shelves lined with jars of herbs, crystals, and several vials of different waters, oils, bloods, and potions.

“You even got a mage in here, huh?” Chris noted, looking at the bookcase and the crystals that lined the large front windows.

“Is this...weed?” Peter chuckled from the kitchen.

That, Derek _did_ know about. As a teenager, Peter had taught Derek how to lace marijuana and alcohol with wolfsbane so that it would affect werewolves the way it affects humans, and Derek passed that knowledge onto Scott, Aiden, and the Stilinski twins when they were complaining about never being able to party one night. It seemed to be their favorite piece of knowledge the alpha had ever given them.

“Yeah, but I don’t recommend getting into it without asking Aiden--he’s got anger issues,” Derek replied, walking back across the entryway into the kitchen to join his uncle, who had the small glass jar filled halfway with tiny green buds in his hand. 

Derek found that the refrigerator was also covered in pictures that Ethan had taken, along with magnets, a grocery list, and a piece of green construction paper with black crayon writing that read, _‘favrit teechr aword: mr. izik!’_ that Isaac had brought home from his job at the Beacon Hills Day Care Center. 

“You really didn’t notice that they had moved in?” Chris asked, picking up Liam’s half-laced lacrosse stick from the kitchen table. A small pile of netting string was splayed across the tabletop, along with a few school textbooks.

“I see you put your alpha senses to good use,” Peter said snidely.

“They’re always in and out--I didn’t bother to keep tabs on if they were sleeping here or not,” Derek told them, leaning against the counter as he picked up the glass of water he had abandoned when he heard them approach the house. “I don’t really leave my room much lately. I’ve been trying to relax for two seconds before the next life-threatening disaster decides to come to Beacon Hills that I’ve gotta deal with.”

“Well, surprise,” Peter said, clapping Derek on the shoulder. The younger man shrugged his hand off, but Peter didn’t seem bothered in the slightest. “You’ve got housemates.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek comes out of his room early enough to witness the havoc that is a Saturday at the Hale house, the teenagers find out about Peter and Chris' return as boyfriends, and Ashton just wants a fucking shower.
> 
> “More like welcome to chaos with a side of burnt toast and frosted flakes,” Stiles corrected from the kitchen table.

The sun had just barely risen over the tops of the trees to shine on the Hale House when Derek was suddenly pulled from his restless sleep by familiar sounds on the first floor. This was the way most of his Saturday mornings began--except this time, he knew that it wasn’t the sound of the wolves coming over. It was the sound of them _living there_.

He squinted at the spinning fan on his ceiling for several long seconds, before begrudgingly sitting up and getting to his feet. He walked over to the rustic dresser with his feet dragging lazily across the plush carpet, and reached up above it to pull the string that was dangling from the blinds covering his large front-facing window. The room immediately filled with light and Derek hissed, snapping his eyes shut and blindly fumbling in his top dresser drawer for a clean shirt, which he quickly found in one of the four neatly-folded stacks within the drawer.

“Are you fucking kidding me, Jackson? It’s been almost an _hour!_ ” Ashton growled from the hallway, just outside his bedroom doors. Derek instinctively turned around towards the sound and opened his eyes, which burned as they acclimated to the inevitable daylight.

Derek went over and pushed open one of the dark wooden french doors to peer out into the hallway, where he found Ashton standing outside the bathroom with her hands in tight fists by her thighs.

“I’m almost done,” Jackson’s muffled voice came from inside the bathroom, to which Ashton stomped her foot childishly and stormed into her bedroom a few paces away. 

Derek made his way downstairs and turned to the left, before pausing as he took in the sight of his kitchen bustling with more people, sounds, and scents than he ever remembered it having--even before the fire. He typically opted to hide in his room until the sounds faded out as the pack went their separate ways, so he had never actually seen breakfast in full swing like this. It was rather overwhelming. 

The island in the center of the kitchen was filled with opened boxes of cereal and four half-filled jugs of orange juice, and Allison, Isaac, and Scott were seated at the three bar stools along the side.

“Hey, Derek,” Scott greeted him with a surprised smile on his face. “You’re never up this early--welcome to breakfast.”

“More like welcome to chaos with a side of burnt toast and frosted flakes,” Stiles corrected from the kitchen table. Liam’s lacrosse stick and netting was still strewn across the table top from the night before, but it was pushed to the far side so that it was out of the way of the six teenagers eating breakfast there.

“I’m always up this early,” Derek said, looking around. His uncle’s door beside the kitchen table was still closed, so he must have been wisely hiding from the commotion, like Derek should have been. 

“We’ll try not to take that to heart, since that means you purposely skip seeing us for breakfast every weekend,” Isaac pointed out.

“Speak for yourself--I’m heartbroken!” Stiles joked, placing his hand over his chest dramatically. Ethan just chuckled and shook his head at his antics, while Aiden rolled his eyes.

“Do you want food, or are you just going to stand there?” Lydia inquired from the stove, where she was in the process of making what could possibly have been an omelet at one point, but definitely wasn't anymore.

“Why are there four juices open?” Derek asked, ignoring her as he grabbed one from the island and poured it into a glass he found in the drying rack by the sink. 

“Because multiple people want juice at once sometimes and we can’t all pour from one jug, obviously,” Scott answered as he stared intently at the stream of milk he was dumping into his bowl of cereal.

Derek quirked an eyebrow at him, before shaking his head in disbelief at their stupidity.

The bedroom door at the other end of the kitchen suddenly swung open and Peter stood there, grinning amiably at those in the busy kitchen. “Well hello again, everyone.”

“Who let you in?” Stiles groaned around his mouthful of cereal, causing milk to dribble down his chin. Identical grimaces overtook Derek and Peter’s faces at the sight and if they ever looked related, it was then.

“I live here--why do I keep getting asked that?” Peter said exasperatedly. “And please--for the love of God--learn how to swallow your food before speaking, Stiles”

Stiles dropped his spoon into his bowl to use both hands to flip the werewolf off, before returning to his breakfast.

Peter entered the kitchen and made a beeline for the outdated coffee machine on the counter beside the marijuana jar, which revealed Chris, who was standing behind him in the doorway.

“Dad?” Allison gasped, turning to face him.

“Hi, Honey.” Chris smiled as he quickly walked up to her and pulled her into a hug. “I got in late last night, or else I would have called.”

“What are you even doing here? I thought you were in France until after Christmas?”

“I, uh...Well, plans changed,” Chris said awkwardly as he glanced over at Peter, who was trying to figure out how to work the ancient device. “I’m here with Peter.”

“You’re here _with_ Peter?” Allison asked hesitantly.

“Yes.”

“Like... _with_ Peter?” Isaac repeated, looking between the two men with slight horror etched into his features. 

“Yes, we are dating,” Peter confirmed casually. “It’s a newish development and it is going wonderfully--thank you for your interest.”

“I don’t think I’m hungry anymore,” Lydia said, scrunching her nose in disgust as she set her plate on the table and sat down. 

“Really, Mr. Argent? Peter? _Peter_?” Scott stressed, looking at him as if he must have lost his mind.

“You couldn’t have found _anyone_ else in Paris--the city of love--to shack up with?” Harlee asked as she stole a forkful of Lydia’s veggie omelet.

“I’m still standing right here,” Peter reminded them.

“Unfortunately, Creeper Wolf, we know,” Stiles grumbled.

“Okay, yes, Peter and Chris are gross,” Derek agreed. He had gotten past the shock and revulsion the night before, and something else was much more on his mind. “But was anybody planning on asking me about you all moving in?”

“Not really,” Lydia admitted.

“You would’ve said no--why would we _ask_ for that answer?” Stiles reasoned. 

“It’s _my_ house,” Derek said. “And how are Theo, Liam, and Harlee even here? They’re still in high school, right? Don’t you have parents you have to live with or something?”

“I do live with my parents; I just have sleepovers at Mason’s house almost every night.” Liam shrugged. “And by Mason’s house, I mean here. My parents don’t question it.”

“Besides, Scott _is_ Liam’s parent,” Isaac teased, looking over at the youngest werewolf.

“No!” Liam said in alarm, pointing a finger warningly at Scott, who had gotten up from his stool and began making his way over to him with a playful smile on his face. “Scott--”

“Can’t you see the resemblance, Derek?” Scott asked as he quickly hugged Liam from behind and nuzzled the back of his neck, before pressing a kiss against the side of head. “We have the same eyes and everything.”

“I have blue eyes,” Liam pointed out as he lightly pushed his alpha away from him with a heatless glare. Derek noticed the upturned corners of his mouth that traitorously gave away his lack of genuine annoyance at Scott’s affection.

“Why do you always reject my love? You wound me, Liam.”

“As for me, my dads don’t mind me being here,” Harlee told him. “I told them I’m getting to know the packs better while I do my emissary training and I think they were happy to have the house to themselves more often.”

“Ethan!” Ashton shouted as she stormed into the kitchen and up to the kitchen table. “If you don’t get your stupid boyfriend out of the bathroom in the next thirty seconds, you’ll be single. He’s been in there doing his hair forever and I need to shower before work.”

“I don’t think he’s been doing his hair for _that_ long--he also probably showered,” Ethan reasoned. Ashton squinted at him for a moment, before he sighed and got up. “I’ll get him.”

“You’d better be coming back to put that in the dishwasher, Ethan!” Lydia called out after him, noticing that he had left his empty cereal bowl on the table. When she didn’t hear a response, she looked pointedly at his twin across from her.

“Why is that my responsibility?” Aiden asked, voice laced with annoyance. 

“I’ve been asking myself that every time Ashton has gotten me into trouble since I was born. It’s just part of being a twin, I think,” Stiles told him.

“Stiles, you get us into trouble at least twice as much as I do.”

Aiden didn’t bother saying anything to them as he cleared both his bowl and his brother’s, then swiftly left the kitchen.

“Oh, we’re out of eggs,” Lydia suddenly remembered as she finished her omelet. “And almost everything else in the fridge.”

“It was _your_ pack’s week to grocery shop,” Theo accused.

“We did it last week!” Scott exclaimed.

“No, _we_ did it last week,” Ashton argued. “Stiles knocked over the can display and we got kicked out, so we had to go out of town to the other Trader Joes.”

“Okay, seriously, who puts a can display in the middle of an aisle?” Stiles defended himself.

“It definitely wasn’t in an aisle at all,” Theo said.

“Okay, wait,” Peter interrupted the conversation. “So, how many packs are living here?”

“Two and some change,” Isaac answered. “Allison, Lydia, Liam, and I are part of Scott’s pack. Then there’s Derek’s pack--which is really just Jackson, since he has to be responsible for him after making the mistake of biting him. And the omegas, of course: Theo, Ethan, Aiden, Stiles, Ashton, and kinda Harlee, since she hasn’t joined a pack as an emissary yet.”

Derek’s eyes immediately flitted to the Stilinski twins after hearing them being referred to as omegas. Had Scott kicked them out of the pack without Derek knowing?

The sound of heavy footsteps running down the stairs and bounding into the kitchen drew everyone’s attention to Ethan. “So...I got Jackson out.”

“But?” Ashton asked, noticing the way he was shifting anxiously from foot to foot.

“Aiden ran in and got in the shower, so...you might have to wait a bit longer.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Ashton said angrily. She charged towards the entryway and Ethan quickly moved aside to allow her to pass and head towards the front door.

“I’m borrowing your bat, Stiles,” Ashton said as she passed by with the silver weapon perched over her shoulder and headed towards the wide staircase.

“Should we be concerned?” Chris asked, looking around at the teenagers.

“Yes,” Stiles and Ethan chorused, but neither made any move to stop her as they listened to her stomp upstairs, before pounding on the bathroom door.

“Aiden got himself into that shit--that’s not our problem,” Theo laughed sinisterly. 

On the second floor, Ashton was fuming as she listened to Aiden humming to himself in the shower.

“Aiden!”

“Occupied,” He replied, amusement evident in his tone. Ashton’s blood boiled as she could practically hear the cocky grin that was doubtlessly on his lips.

“If you don’t get your ass out of that bathroom right now, I’m coming in there!”

When she received no response, she jumped up to swipe the spare key from on top of the doorframe. She easily unlocked the door and opened it, earning a surprised, “Ay, what the fuck, Stilinksi?!”

“You knew I’ve been waiting for the shower--why are you such an asshole?”

“Why are _you_ such an asshole? If I just barged into the bathroom while _you_ were showering, you would kill me.”

“I might kill you right now,” Ashton seethed to herself. “I really need the shower. I have to have time to do my hair and get ready before work.”

Aiden pulled the shower curtain open slightly and stuck his head out. He sniffed in her direction and gave her a quick once-over, before disappearing back behind the curtain and saying, “You smell fine and your hair was showered yesterday--you’re clean enough for your stupid waitress job. You’re gonna come home smelling like steak and burgers anyway. Just get ready and get out.”

Ashton looked herself over in the mirror, before sighing defeatedly and grabbing the brush from the counter.

“Can you shut the door or something? The breeze from the hall is coming in and I’m freezing my balls off.”

“Wow...if only I cared about the safety of your balls.”

“Dude, seriously?”

“I can’t close it,” She told him as she carefully parted her long brown hair into two equal sections on either side of her head. “If I do, the mirror will start fogging up and I need it.”

The bathroom was silent after that, neither really wanting to socialize with each other more than necessary. Ashton was able to finish dutch braiding both sides of her hair and was tying the clear rubber band onto the end of her left braid, when the water turned off.

“Hand me my towel?” Aiden asked, reaching his hand out to point at the folded black towel on the counter. 

“I’m busy,” She snapped, adjusting the hair ties to sit at the same place on each side.

“Fine,” Aiden said nonchalantly as he stepped out of the shower to retrieve the towel himself.

“Oh, my God!” Ashton shrieked, grabbing the towel from the counter and throwing it at his exposed groin to cover him. “What the _fuck,_ Aiden?”

“Oh, I’m sorry--what was I supposed to do? _Air dry_?” Aiden wrapped the towel loosely around his waist and shook his hair lightly out of his face as water droplets slid down his neck and onto his broad shoulders.

“Okay, bye,” Ashton said quickly, looking away from him to examine the freshly-painted cream walls.

“You’re literally done with your hair now--you leave,” He reasoned. “I still need to shave and do _my_ hair.”

“You don’t even grow facial hair.”

“Yes, I do...I just _shave_ it.”

“Wait, are you referring to that peach fuzz on your upper lip as facial hair?” She snickered, reaching out to touch the light hair. He grabbed her wrist before she could and pushed it away from him.

Ashton turned back towards the counter and began putting the hair ties she had dumped out back into the small jar beside the sink. Aiden came up behind her and reached around her to grab his toothbrush, which caused some droplets from his hair to drip onto her arm.

“Watch it,” She warned. “You almost got water on my hair.”

“Oh, wouldn’t _that_ be the end of the fucking world?”

“Bathroom’s all yours,” Ashton told him, grabbing the bat from where she had propped it against the wall and stepping around him to get to the door.

“Hey, Stilinski?”

“What?” She questioned, turning back towards the boy with her eyebrows raised expectantly. Before she could register what he was doing, he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her towards him to rub his wet hair against the side of her head several times, completely ruining the braid.

“You should really wait your turn for the bathroom,” He smirked, letting her go.

“Son of a bitch!” She yelled, before adjusting her grip on the bat and swinging it forcefully against his side. He fell sideways into the shower curtain, which was pulled down with him as he landed in the tub. A loud _crunch_ sounded as the curtain rod was ripped from the walls and came barreling down towards the werewolf’s head. Ashton instinctively reached out and grabbed the bar at the same time Aiden managed to, inches from his face.

“What the _hell_ was that?” Derek demanded from below, before running up the stairs. Within seconds, he and Peter were standing in the doorway.

“Well...I can’t say I’ve walked in on anything quite like this before,” Peter commented amusedly. Aiden and Ashton dropped the shower rod and Aiden used the curtain to cover himself more, since his towel was exposing a bit more of his body than he wanted to be showing in this situation.

“You idiots _broke the bathroom_ ,” Derek growled, looking between the gaping holes in the walls on either side of the shower. 

“He screwed up my hair--”

“--and you hit me with a _bat_ , you psycho fucking--”

“Fix it,” Derek interrupted, obviously not interested in hearing their excuses or arguing.He gave one final glare to each of them, before leaving.

“I hear Youtube is good at figuring things like this out,” Peter suggested.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles is talked into driving the McCall pack to the grocery store and Lydia and Allison have to try to shop while dealing with the idiotic, immature boys of their pack. Plus, Stiles realizes there might be something going on between two adults in his life.
> 
> “This is ridiculous!” Scott complained, looking down at the box of frozen key lime pie in his hands. “What’s even the point of being an alpha if your pack undermines your decisions all the freakin time?”

Stiles gently gnawed at the stiff eraser on the end of his wooden pencil as he read through the latest case file he had “borrowed” from the police station. He hardly felt guilty about breaking into the sheriff’s office anymore, since they had recently moved a brand new photocopying machine in there. Why would they do that, if it wasn’t a subtle push for Stiles to occasionally come in and make copies of active case files? Besides, he knew he could help. Abiding by the confidentiality laws in this situation would be completely counterproductive, since Stiles was a better detective than most of the actual police officers in Beacon Hills.

“Stiles, you busy?” Scott asked from his open doorway, causing him to impulsively shut the file with a surprised jerk. He slid it to the corner of his desk and leaned back in his computer chair to peer around the walls of the walk-in closet blocking his view.

“I’m currently in college studying Criminal Justice with a nineteen unit course load--I’m always busy. That doesn’t stop me from spending most of my time actively avoiding my responsibilities, though,” Stiles answered. “So, what’s up?”

“Our pack needs to go grocery shopping and we need an extra car today. I was hoping either you could lend me the jeep or you could drive me?”

“Why do you need an extra car? Lydia’s is pretty big.”

“She won’t let us put groceries in her’s anymore,” Scott explained, walking further into the room and leaning against the wall across from Stiles, who had swiveled his chair around to face him. “There was a, uh, yogurt exploding situation in her trunk last time we went. She’s really just overreacting, though! It wasn’t _that_ bad.”

“Uh, I don’t really want a yogurt explosion in my car, either.”

“You know I wouldn’t put Roscoe in danger...I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t need it. Aiden wouldn’t let us use his truck and there’s really no point in even asking to use Jackson’s Porsche or Peter’s car. And like...Derek obviously isn’t an option, either.”

“Peter’s car is a Shelby 1000 Cobra--there are only like a hundred in the world,” Stiles told him. “I’m surprised _he_ even drives it.”

“Look, there won’t be any more yogurt explosions--it was just a freak incident, I swear,” Scott assured him.

“Why doesn’t Lydia think it was just a freak incident?” Stiles reasoned. “She seems to think it’ll happen again if she lets you guys keep using her car.”

“Dude, it really won’t happen again, okay? For real. I’ll even get the yogurt double-bagged, okay?”

Stiles looked at him for a moment and sighed at those stupid brown puppy eyes that Scott always pulled out whenever he wanted something, and Stiles--after over a decade of friendship--could still not deny him. “Fine, but you’re getting them _triple_ bagged and if Roscoe is hurt _at all_ , I will hand-fashion a mountain ash stake and skewer you--I swear to God.”

***

The employee stationed at the entrance of Trader Joe’s was new, so he didn’t think twice about allowing Stiles to walk in unsupervised. The fact that he wasn’t trained on how necessary it was to have someone keep an eye on Stiles while in the store was really the store’s fault--not Stiles’. 

As if that wasn’t already tempting a disaster enough, Lydia had made the mistake of allowing him to push a cart. This was probably due to the fact that he hadn’t done much shopping with the McCall pack, since they began switching off on grocery duties around the time he had split from their pack. They weren’t aware that Stiles wasn’t supposed to be trusted with carts. Again, though...they had known him for long enough to guess that it was a responsibility he shouldn’t have had.

The final push Stiles needed was that the store was very slow for a Saturday. Only a few other small groups of people were walking up and down the aisles, meaning that Stiles had a lot of room to mess with his cart without needing to pay much attention to his surroundings. This wasn’t Stiles’ fault either--he had no way of knowing about the uncharacteristic lack of customers before coming.

The fact that he found himself acting on his irresistible impulse to step up on the bottom rung of his shopping cart and push off the ground to ride it for a few feet...well that was _arguably_ his fault. The opportunity was just too tempting for him.

He touched back down onto the ground and turned around to see if the pack had noticed his short joy ride, but they had not. Isaac and Scott stood beside Allison's cart, holding up several items they had found, while Lydia just stared at them with a thin eyebrow raised and her manicured hand perched on her hip. They were gathered at the end of the aisle, but Stiles’ hearing was able to easily pick up their conversation.

“Can we get these parmesan bread crisps?” Liam asked, running up to them with a small bag. “We got tomato soup, so they’re basically a must-have.”

“I will not say this again,” Lydia said slowly, making eye contact with each of the boys to ensure that they were paying attention. “Stop bringing things to put in the cart. We have a _list_ . If it’s not on the list, it’s a no. If it is, _Allison_ _or I_ will get it. _Stop_ touching things.”

“This is ridiculous!” Scott complained, looking down at the box of frozen key lime pie in his hands. “What’s even the point of being an alpha if your pack undermines your decisions all the freakin time?”

“Scott, it’s a _pie_ ,” Allison stressed. “Get over it.”

“I thought pie was a good idea,” Liam offered in support.

Assuming that the pack was busy enough to not notice, Stiles slipped off down a different aisle out of their sight. He grinned triumphantly when he didn’t hear anyone call after him and stepped up onto the cart again to surge forward a bit faster this time. As he picked up speed, he wondered if this was how skateboarding felt. Maybe he should try it out some time. He suddenly noticed the familiar figure of his father at the end of the aisle he was racing down, speaking to a woman with curly dark hair. His father _never_ went grocery shopping, so Stiles was more than surprised at his presence in Trader Joe's. He watched curiously as Noah laughed at something the female said and put his hand on her lower back. 

“What the--” Stiles whispered to himself as the woman turned to the side to grab a box of Cheerios, allowing Stiles to realize that his dad was shopping and being touchy with _Melissa McCall._

He didn’t notice the cart beginning to drift towards the shelves, until the corner made abrupt contact with them and the cart crashed to a stop, sending Stiles flying to the ground with several boxes of cereal. Once he stopped rolling, he stared up at the ceiling as the breath returned to his lungs and pain shot from his tailbone up through his back. "Fuck."

“Stiles?” Noah asked, rushing over to him and crouching beside his head.

“Oh, hey, Dad...and Melissa.”

“Are you alright?” She asked, looking over him worriedly.

“I will be,” Stiles assured her. “I’m just gonna heal for a second here.” After a few moments, Stiles carefully pushed himself into a sitting position with a wince and looked at them. “So...what’s, uh...going on here?”

“What’s going on?” Noah scoffed. “What’s going on is you were cart surfing in a store as an _adult_.”

“You know what I mean,” Stiles urged, motioning between the two. “Is this like...a _thing_ now?”

“We’re friends,” Melissa answered. “Your father was living on fast food, so I brought him shopping with me so he could lay off the burgers and fries.”

“Friends?” Stiles challenged. “I saw the touchy-touchy, Dad, your hand was pretty low there.”

“I’m sorry, but last time I checked, I’m an adult,” Noah said. “My hand placement is really none of your business.”

Stiles opened his mouth to say something else, but shut it again when a girl with short blonde hair and a Trader Joe’s uniform appeared in front of him. “Hello, Stiles.”

“Hey, Jenny,” He greeted her. “It’s been awhile.”

“It’s been a week.”

“Yeah,” He sighed, slowly getting to his feet. “I’ll just pick up these boxes and kick myself out.”

Jenny nodded, before leaving the aisle without another word.

“I wish I was more surprised that the staff knows you by name,” Noah told him.

“People keep taking me grocery shopping.” Stiles shrugged as he bent down to collect the scattered boxes. “It’s not my fault they aren’t learning.”

“Who’s fault is it that _you_ aren’t learning how to behave in a store?”

“Probably yours, since you’re my--” Stiles answered, but shut his mouth at the glare he received. “Anyway, Ash attacked Aiden with my bat this morning and they ripped the shower rod out of the wall. If they don’t fix it today, Derek might kill them, so...if you know anything about that, she could probably use some fatherly assistance.”

“Fantastic,” Noah sighed, shaking his head.

***

“Okay, you guys bring the bags in,” Allison instructed once they had made it back to the side yard of the Hale House. “Since Lydia and I are apparently the only ones capable of stacking the fridge right, it’s only fair.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Isaac complied as he reached into Stiles’ jeep to grab a few of the bags. Scott followed suit and the two of them went into the house with the girls, leaving Stiles to bring in the last two. 

“ _Noo_ ,” Stiles whined, looking at the two very full bags of _canned soup_ that awaited him. “ _Whyy_?”

“Problem?” Derek asked from the porch, cocking an eyebrow at Stiles’ childish distress.

“Uh...not really,” Stiles lied, face flushing lightly at the realization that someone had witnessed his complaining. He looped his hands into the straps of the cloth bags and pulled them out of the car with a grunt. He took a few steps forward, but ended up setting them down on the ground to take a deep breath and flex his hands from where the strap had already begun digging into his fingers. “I don’t understand why they left me the two heaviest bags, when I obviously don’t workout and have no strength whatsoever.”

Derek looked at the bags curiously, then back at Stiles. “Both vampires and werewolves have enhanced strength--you should be able to bring in groceries without working out.”

“Wow, Derek, thank you. Thank you for making me feel so great about myself and how weak I am.” Stiles rolled his eyes. “You know, werewolves are stronger than vampires, which I take after way more. I don’t bulk up like a wolf, y’know? I think that’s my problem. I mean, look at me--I’m basically a scrawny stick. I think it’s actually very questionable if I’m any stronger than a human.”

Derek’s eyes took a moment to rake over Stiles and the younger man suddenly felt very self-conscious, not having expected Derek to actually do it. “You’re not _totally_ a stick.”

“Uh...thanks.” 

Derek seemed to realize what his comment sounded like and quickly said, “I mean, I would’ve thought you could carry in groceries.”

They stood in a thick, uncomfortable silence for a moment, before Derek quickly crossed the lawn and grabbed the bags from the dirt, much to Stiles’ relief. They walked towards the porch together, neither one really sure if they should talk or not. About halfway there, Stiles looked over to thank him for his help, but noticed that Derek was chewing on the inside of his lip and furrowing his eyebrows slightly.

“What’s up?” Stiles asked instead.

“What?”

“You’re thinking. What are you thinking about?”

Derek paused and looked over at him uneasily, before saying, “Omega, huh?”

“Oh...yeah,” Stiles answered, his eyebrows raising slightly in surprise. Out of all the things that could have been stressing Derek Hale out, that wasn’t what he guessed it would have been. “It’s complicated...I left Scott’s pack a couple months ago. It’s not a big deal--we’re still friends. Ash and I had some differing viewpoints on things than Scott and we just...realized it wasn’t really a good fit for us. He understood. Anyway, we should probably get inside before Lydia gets mad that it’s taking so long to bring the soup in. I think it’s what we’re having for lunch.”

Derek nodded. He was obviously still confused, but respected that Stiles was probably being vague for a reason and dropped it. The two of them made it back into the house and Derek set the bags on the island.

“We forgot your raspberries, Stiles,” Lydia told him as she closed the refrigerator.

“What?!” Stiles gasped, before throwing his upper body over the island and burying his face in his arms. “My will to live has been extinguished.”

“Raspberries are your reason to live?” Derek questioned, a slight smile playing at the corner of his mouth.

“They’re my favorite,” Stiles said. “They’re the perfect food for any time. They go great with breakfast, but also as an afternoon snack to tide you over for dinner, and an _amazing_ cure for midnight munchies. Plus...they're _so_ good.”

“You’ll just have to survive a week without them,” Lydia laughed, reaching over to rub his back comfortingly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> up next: Derek decides an official Pack House Meeting is needed, and it all goes to shit, much to Peter's amusement.

**Author's Note:**

> REQUESTS: Please feel free to let me know in the comments which ships you want more scenes for! The relationships in this are Sterek (Stiles/Derek), Scisaac (Scott/Isaac), Allydia (Allison/Lydia), Petopher (Peter/Chris), McStilinski (Melissa/Noah), Harthiam (Harlee/Liam/Theo), Jethan (Jackson/Ethan), and Aiton (Ashton/Aiden). I want to make sure all of these ships get a lot of scenes, so just tell me if you feel like the book needs more for any of them and I'll do it! The only couples who are actually together at the beginning are Petopher and Jethan, so we get to watch the rest of them fall in love.
> 
> Comments/Kudos/Bookmarks/Subscriptions mean the world to me, so thanks so much to everyone who supports me!!


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